American Studies M.A. (2nd Year) U.X.L Encyclopedia of World Mythology (Rebecca Parks)Native American Mythology

Native American Mythology in Context The Native American people of North America do not share a single, unified body of mythology, but certain mythic themes, characters, and stories can be found in many of the cultures;

Underlying all the myths is the idea that spiritual forces can be sensed throughout the natural world: including clouds, wind, plants, and animals- which they shape and sustain;

According to the mythologies of most Native American cultures, people originated in the places where their ancestors traditionally lived; some tales speak of migrations (Native Americans are descended from hunting and gathering peoples of northeastern Asia who migrated across the Bearing Sea into North America during the most recent Ice Age, which ended around 8000 BCE);

Before the arrival of Europeans, most Native Americans did not use written language. Many myths and legends were passed from generation to generation in oral form (by special storytellers who sometimes used objects such as stone carvings, shells, rugs, or pottery to illustrate the tales. Mythology, religion, history and ritual were not separate things for Native American peoples. Certain myths could not be told lightly. Many Native Americans believed that some myths could be told only at certain times, often during winter nights, a dire fate- such as an attack by snakes- awaited those who told the stories at the wrong time. Other myths resembled folktales and many involved tricksters.

Core deities and characters: A. Creators, gods and spirits:

Many Native American mythologies have a high deity sometimes referred to as the Great Spirit- who is responsible for bringing the universe or the world into existence. Often, the Great Spirit merely begins the process of creation and then disappears or removes itself to heaven, leaving other gods to complete the work of creation or to oversee the day to day running of the world.

The high god of the Pawnee people, Tirawa gave duties and powers to the Sun and Moon, the Morning Star and Evening Star, the Star of Death, and the four Stars that support the sky. The Lakota people believe the sun, sky, earth, wind, and many other elements of the natural, human, and spiritual worlds are all aspects of one Supreme Being, Wakan Tanka. The secondary gods are often embodiments of natural forces, such as the wind. Ex. In the mythology of the Iroquois people the thunder god Hunin is a mighty warrior who shoots arrows of fire and is married to the rainbow goddess.

Not all creators are universally good. Napi, the creator god of the Blackfoot people in the Plains region appears as both wise and as a trickster.

Kachinas, spirits of the dead who link the human and spiritual worlds, play an important role in the mythologies of the Pueblo peoples of the American Southwest, including the Zuni and Hopi. In hopi mythology, the creator deity is a female being called Spider Woman.

B. Culture Heroes and Transformers:

In the mythologies of some Indian groups from the Northeast, the culture hero Gluskap creates humans, returns from death to defeat evil, and protects people from natural and magical disasters. The myths of some California Indians tell of the Attajen, who teaches the first people how to make rain and how to fill the earth with plants and animals and of Chinigchinich, who teaches the wise men how to perform ceremonial dances that will summon him when they have need of help in the future.

C. Tricksters: They have a greater place in the folklore of hunter-gatherer peoples than of settled agricultural groups; The trickster, who is almost always male, represents uncertainty. He loves to upset things and spread confusion; the tricksters acts are comic pranks, but they often have a cruel side as well. Sometimes he ends up being tricked himself (ex. The Eye- Juggler story: the trickster saw birds tossing their own eyes into the air and then putting them back in their heads, but when he tried to do the same, he could not put them back).

The trickster appears as hero when his pranks such as stealing fire or the sun- benefit humans (ex. The trickster Raven).

Animals: - although animals appear in many myths and legends, they seldom have purely animal characteristics. They talk and interact with people and often change between human and animal form. According to tradition, in the myth age- before people and animals became fixed in their present forms- animals could change their appearance whenever they wished. Some stories tell of an Animal Wife or Animal Husband, as when a human marries a deer who is disguised as a person. Often the animal spouse is a bear.

Native American groups of the Northwest Coast of the US and Canada create carved and painted logs of wood called totem poles. The animals and spirits on these poles often come from Native American myths and folktales. Major myths

A. Creation: In one of the oldest and most widespread myths (found everywhere but in the Southwest and on the Arctic coast), the earth is covered by an ancient sea. A water creature such as a duck, muskrat[footnoteRef:1], or turtle- plunges to the depths of the sea and returns with a lump of mud that becomes the earth, which is often supported on the back of a turtle. This Earth Diver myth also exists in northern Europe and Asia. [1: A large aquatic rodent (Ondatra zibethica) of North America, related to the lemming and the vole and having a dense brown coat and musk (mosc) glands under a broad flat tail. Also called musquash, water rat.]

The creation myth of the Iroquois people combines elements of the Earth Diver story with the image of a creator who descends from the heavens. Creation begins when a sky goddess- Ataensic- plummets through a hole in the floor of heaven and lands in the primeval sea (the myth of Woman who fell from the Sky). The animals dive deep into the sea for bits of earth to support her and the goddess speads them on Great Turtles back to create the land, and the daughter she bears there becomes known as the Earth Woman.

B. Death: - it came into the world to prevent the earth from becoming overcrowded (the Shoshone people have the story of Wolf and Coyote).

C. Pairs and opposites: - a number of Native American mythologies feature paired or opposing characters or qualities as a recurring theme. Twins or sets of brothers appear in many myths and legends. For example, in Iroquois mythology, Earth Woman gives birth to the twin brothers Good Twin- who creates life, forests, and food plants- and Evil Twin- who creates impassable mountains, mosquitoes and toad that drinks all the water. Good Twin finally kills Evil Twin.

D. Key-themes and symbols: scholars have divided North America into different regions based on patterns of Native American mythology.

In the Eastern part of the Arctic region, the myths of the Inuit or Eskimo people focus on Sedna, a deity known as the mistress or mother of sea animals. In addition to trickster and transformer myths, the California region produced various myths about animals and about the deities who started the process of creation. Etc.

Spider Woman

Spider Woman appears in the mythology of several American Indian tribes, including the Navajo, Keresan, and Hopi. In most cases she is associated with the emergence of life on earth. She helps people by teaching them survival skills, such as planting crops. She also teaches the Navajo the art of weaving.

In the Navajo creation story, she helps the warrior twins, Monster Slayer and Child of Water find their father, the Sun. According to the Hopi, at the beginning of time Spider Woman controlled the underworld, the home of the gods, while the sun god Tawa ruled the sky. Using only their thoughts, they created the earth between the two worlds. Spider Woman molded animals and people from clay and she and Tawa said some magic words to bring them to life. She divided the animals and people into the groups that inhabit the world today and she also gave men and women specific roles: women were to watch over the home, while men were to pray and make offerings to the gods.

Another Hopi myth states that Tawa created insect-like beings and placed them in the First World. Dissatisfied with these creatures, Tawa sent Spider Woman to lead them, first to the Second World and then to the Third World, where they turned into people. When sorcerers brought evil to the Third World, Spider Woman led the people to the Fourth World, the one in which the Hopi currently live.

Spider Woman may be associated with a Mexican deity known as the Great Goddess of Teotihuacn. Many scholars speculate that this goddess is asscociated with vegetation and with the underworld, just like Spider Woman.

Wakan Tanka (Great Mystery)

Wakan Tanke is the supreme being and creator of the Lakota Sioux. Sometimes called Great Spirit, he is similar to the supreme beings found in the myths of many other North American peoples.

Major myths:

Before creation, Wakan Tanka existed in a great emptiness called Han (darkness). Feeling lonely, he focused his energy into a powerful force and formed Inyan (rock), the first god. Next, he used Inyan to create Maka (earth) and then mated with that god to produce Skan (sky). Skan brought forth Wi (the sun) from Inyan, Maka, and himself. These four gods were separate and powerful, but they were all part of Wakan Tanka.

The first four gods produced four companions- Moons, Wind, Fallinf Star, and Thunderbird- to help with the process of creation. In turn, these companions created various gods and spirits, including Two-Legged creatures (humans and bears), Sicun (thought), Nagi (spirit of death) etc. All of these beings were aspects of Wakan Tanka. Together, they created and oversee everything that exists.

Wakan Tanka is a spirit force that can be found in all things, from corn to canyons and cockroaches. This suggests unity and harmony with the natural world. In modern times, due to the influence of Christian missionaries, Wakan Tanka is often compared with the all-powerful God of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Some American Indians have incorporated Christian beliefs, such as the appearance of Jesus, into their existing mythology of Wakan Tanka. 1